The Rangers manager, Ally McCoist, has derided the suggestion from Robbie Neilson, his opposite number at Heart of Midlothian, that referees favour the Glasgow club.

When Rangers hosted Hibernian in the Petrofac Training Cup on Tuesday evening, visiting forward Danny Handling was surprisingly shown a straight red card for an awkward challenge on winger David Templeton.

The following day Neilson said he had been preparing his side for their visit to Ibrox on Sunday by playing 10 versus 11 “because we know what it’s like when we go there”.

“Is it mind games? Absolutely it’s mind games. And, by the way, I’ve watched the Hibs tackle again from Tuesday night and it is a red card. I agreed with [Alan] Stubbsy at the time: I wasn’t sure.

“I thought it was a card-and-a-half at the time. But, having watched it again, I think he does come in with the scissors. I don’t think there was any real malice [and] the fact Hibs aren’t appealing maybe indicates how they feel.

“But I did have a chuckle at Robbie’s comments, yes. He’s in the management door 30 seconds and he’s playing mind games already ...

“Listen, we all got a giggle out of it and we took the way it was meant. I would imagine he had his tongue firmly placed in his cheek while making the comment!

“Maybe he believes it, but I would have thought it was a tongue-in-cheek remark and if we can’t have a smile, then we are all toiling.”

Full-back Richard Foster, for his part, preferred to believe that the Hearts manager is merely running scared and getting his excuses in early.

“It’s something that has been put out there to try and potentially get into the referee’s head,” he said. “They’ve got to do everything to win the game and if that’s what he thinks he needs to do to win the game then I think we’re in a better position.

“They’ll be going into this season wanting to win and wanting to get back into the Premiership and fair enough.

“I’m a great believer you’ve got to do whatever it takes to win the game.

“Sometimes you’ve got to bend the rules, sometimes you’ve got to break the rules: it’s all about winning at the end of the day.

“I know for a fact behind closed doors he’ll be telling his players they are good enough to beat us. He’s just putting that out in the press to maybe try and unsettle us, maybe try and unsettle the referee. It won’t affect us or his players.

“It is going to have no effect on us. If they’re not playing within the rules of the game and get a man sent off it won’t be the fact there’s any kind of bias or prejudice against them, it will just be the fact they are not playing within the rules.”